


No1LadybugFan x Bugaboo

by womanroaring



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Identity Reveal, Kissing, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8338228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/womanroaring/pseuds/womanroaring
Summary: Ladybug and Cat Noir use the Ladyblog to send each other messages in secret. But after defeating Dark Cupid, Cat Noir has something very particular he wants to speak to Ladybug about. Fluff and feels.





	1. Re-do

The Ladyblog had become not only the most comprehensive site for all things Ladybug, but also a place for Cat Noir and Ladybug to communicate in secret.

“Look for anything from No1LadybugFan,” he’d said, “And here’s the username I’ll expect you to use,” and he’d handed her a slip of paper with a wink before running off to transform in private.

 _Bugaboo_ , the paper had said.

She’d rolled her eyes, yet here she was, doing her usual nightly flick through to see both what news Alya had posted that day, and to see if No1LadybugFan had cryptically commented on anything. She wasn’t expecting anything from him; they’d taken care of Dark Cupid that day, and she had supposed he would still be licking his wounds, as it were, or at least nursing the same embarrassment over that kiss that she had been.

If Cat Noir would even remember it. It seemed kind of weird that she’d kissed a guy and he wouldn’t remember it. She almost wanted to ask him about it but also planned to never bring it up again. As Ladybug she took all sorts of things in her stride, including brazenly kissing her crime-fighting partner to break the spell that he was under, but in her ordinary life, Marinette had kissed one boy ever, at her cousin’s 14th birthday party, while playing spin the bottle. She was going to have to up that count to two, now. Not that she could really count either of them as “real” kisses.

She buried her head in her arms on her desk. If she ever did manage to get the courage to ask Adrien out, and then the courage to try to kiss him, she really was barely going to know what to do. She should quit while she was ahead. They still had nunneries in Paris, right?

Her phone buzzed. It was Alya.

_I am SO SO sorry about everything I said to you while I was under that bad juju. Bits of it have come back to me now. Please know I didn’t mean a word of it. I know you’ll understand but I needed to tell you x_

Marinette replied right away. _Of course I understand! You weren’t you. I’ll see you tomorrow x_

Alya updated the blog shortly after.

_Hey Ladyblog fans. I was one of the victims of Paris’s latest villain today, I’m still trying to work out everything that happened. Expect a first-hand account once I’ve got my head on straight. In the meantime, here’s a link to the official news report. Alya out._

Cat Noir must have been sitting there refreshing the page, because within seconds, his comment was there: _Bugaboo -- I hear that happened just near where we first met. We should revisit the scene tomorrow for old time’s sake. Same time, same place?_

Wow. What time had they met? Marinette had no idea. It was only through trawling back through the Ladyblog that she had known to get there just after school. Thank goodness for Alya…

When she got there the next day, Cat was already waiting for her, leaning against an advertising column.

“You received my invitation, then?”

“Obviously. Is everything ok?”

Before he could answer, some school children walked past, crying their names. They said hello, posed for photographs, waved good-bye. “I think a nice private rooftop might do better for this conversation,” he said, pulling out his staff, and putting his hand out chivalrously. “May I, my lady?”

She took his hand and put her other one around him, like she had a hundred times, and they whirled up.

Cat Noir made a show of putting his staff away, not looking at her. She wasn’t sure he’d ever done that before.

“So… what did you want to meet about?” She ventured.

His eyes flicked over at her. Then away again. He did that thing he did when he was feeling awkward, where he touched the back of his neck. “So, see,” he said, then opened his mouth and closed it again a few times. “The thing is, I don’t really remember much of what happened to me yesterday while I -- just some horrible things I said, which I am very, very sorry about, by the way. But I -- I feel kind of weird about the fact that we’ve kissed and I don’t really remember it. You _did_ kiss me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, well, I -- like I said, I had to break the spell. I needed my partner back, to help me defeat Dark Cupid, and I mean -- you were trying to kill me --

“Wait, I tried to _kill_ you?? Oh, no, Ladybug, I’m so sorry -- I mean, I know we fought but -”

“Look, you weren’t yourself, and it all turned out, so just -- don’t worry about anything that happened that you don’t really remember, it’s ok. I -”

“It’s just that,” he interrupted, “I’veneverkissedagirlbefore.”

Ladybug stared at him. She wasn’t positive, since he’d said it so fast, but she was pretty sure he’d just said that he’d never kissed a girl before. Cat Noir, the massive flirt, the swaggering show off, who rolled onto her and put his arms around her and tried to kiss her at every turn -- had never actually been kissed?

Cat Noir was still talking, but she hadn’t heard a word. “Oh god, that was your first kiss?” she asked.

He went even redder, and then nodded. “So… I was wondering if we couldn’t -- I mean if you wouldn’t mind -- it already happened, and you remember it and I don’t, and -”

“Oh,” Ladybug said. “I guess that isn’t very fair. So I guess you’re saying you -- you want to run through it again?”

He nodded.

And he looked at her with big pleading eyes.

“Ok,” she found herself saying.

Her heart was thudding in her throat. She knew academically that you weren’t supposed to like kissing people you weren’t attracted to -- she hadn’t particularly enjoyed her first kiss, for instance -- but kissing Cat Noir hadn’t been bad. Even evil. It had been fine. It had been … natural.

 _Adrien_ , a desperate little voice said in the back of her head.

 _Just think of it as practice_ , another part said.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered, moving into his personal space. It felt so strange for this simple thing -- getting physically close to him -- to make her insides tingle like this, since they were physical with each other all the time.

“It wasn’t really much of a kiss,” she said. She put her hand up to touch his face. “I think I did this,” she said. He leaned forward.

It was nothing like yesterday's kiss. That had been the prince waking up Sleeping Beauty; this was... which Disney movie was it, where the prince and the princess went to kiss each other, gently, but then within moments were wrapped around each other like octopuses and the shot panned away in a family-friendly manner to fireworks shooting everywhere?  
  
That's what this was.  
  
Ladybug was drowning. She pulled up for air, but Cat didn't let go of her right away. Probably a good thing. She genuinely felt dizzy.

Cat let out a chuckle -- not his usual cocky one; a joyous sort of thing that made her heart start pounding even faster. He rested his forehead against hers.  
  
"There," he said. "That's what our first kiss should have been like."  
  
Ladybug pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes huge. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know what she was feeling. It was like she'd been emotionally hijacked.  
  
She turned and ran.

 


	2. What did you do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroes wonder what just happened.

 

Ladybug couldn’t believe it. In 24 hours she’d kissed Cat Noir not once, but TWICE, and the second time hadn’t even been to save Paris. It had simply been because he’d asked her to, and she’d said yes, and suddenly they’d been making out like -- like _teenagers_ and she could. Not. DEAL.

She’d never taken his flirting seriously before, and then all of a sudden he’d opened up to her -- been honest and real -- and she’d just gone along with what he’d asked. Then she’d just … just _melted_.

As Marinette, she would never have done this.

“Tikki! Spots off!”

As she turned back to herself, she felt like... like…

“Marinette?” Tikki sounded far away, but she sounded concerned, and hesitant. Marinette rounded on her.

“What did you do to me?!” she yelled. “That kiss! _I_ would never have done that.”

“Marinette,” her friend said, looking concerned, and caring, and everything Marinette didn’t want right now, “I didn’t do anything. I just give you what you need to become Ladybug. I help you be strong, and resilient and brave. I help you make good decisions. I didn’t make you kiss Cat Noir. But I’m not sorry you did.”

 _“What?”_ Marinette said. “What do you mean you’re not sorry -- what -”

“You and Cat Noir are a true pair. You complement each other, you make each other whole. He destroys while you create. He rushes in while you evaluate cautiously. And he gives himself while you hold back. He’s in love with you. Now it’s your choice what you do with that knowledge.”

“But -- I don’t even know who he _is_ , really -”

“He keeps trying to show you. You’re the one that won’t let him.”

“Well that still doesn’t explain what happened!”

“You found out that you have feelings for him. You wouldn’t be the first teenager to not know what to do now.”

“But -- Adrien -” she said, looking over to her workspace, decorated as it usually was with its many pictures of him.

She would have benefitted greatly from overhearing the conversation that he was currently having. Alas, she had not yet installed any bugs or secret cameras in his room, but it went something like this:

“Plagg! What the hell did you do?!”

“What? Me? What did I do? You left that camembert out for me, didn’t you?”

“Not the cheese, you pig, you -- you ruined everything with Ladybug just now! How did you do that?”

“What are you complaining about? You got to kiss her again, didn’t you?”

“I _went_ there to tell her that I _love_ her, I went there to tell her how I felt, not to beg another kiss off her like some desperate -- some sleazy -- some guy who didn't care as much as I do about kissing her!”

“She didn’t act like she thought you were desperate or sleazy. That was _some kiss_ , if you get my drift. I don’t think the conversation would have ended that way if you’d gone there and professed your undying adoration and passion for the girl.”

“So you _did_ do something!”

“Nope. I can’t make you say or do anything while you’re in the suit. Now where’s my cheese?”

Meanwhile, over Paris, a strange hooded figure tapdanced over the rooftops, occasionally sprinkling a barely visible, sparkly dust here and there with a benevolent sort of air.

Unexpected things were happening all over the city tonight.


	3. Needing to talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroes try to talk about what just happened.

Adrien was in agony. That kiss had been wonderful. He knew he didn’t have anything to compare it to, but he also knew it had been perfect. It had been electric.

But Ladybug had run away.

Maybe it hadn’t been electrically perfect at all. Or maybe it had and that had scared her. Maybe she had wanted to keep everything as it had been and now it couldn’t go back to being professional with a side dish of flirting.

Or maybe in real life she was a grown-up woman with a husband and children.

_Oh my god._

He needed to talk to her about it. Except that he couldn’t possibly talk to her about it. He genuinely didn’t have the social skills.

He needed advice.

He was early to school for once the next day. It’s not like he’d slept soundly. The second he saw Nino, he dragged him off behind a storage area where he hoped nobody would hear them, and blurted out, “What does it mean if you have an amazing kiss with a girl, who you’ve had great chemistry with for ages, but then she just runs off without a word?”

“Woah, dude, did you kiss Marinette?”

“Ma -- Marinette -- what?”

“Gross, you didn’t kiss Chloe, did you?”

“No! Look, just focus on one thing at a time!”

“No way man, if you got some lip action, I need to know all the deets.”

Adrien sank against the wall, his head in his hands.

“Aw, dude,” Nino said, taking pity on him. “Ok, chill out, let’s just run through what happened. Are you sure she was cool with being kissed? You didn’t, like, grab her and kiss her without her permission?”

“No! I asked her and then she kissed me!”

“Did you say anything to, like, scare her off?”

“No -- I, mean, I don’t think so! Everything was perfect!”

“Well, maybe that was your problem, dude. Maybe she didn’t want everything to be perfect. I’m not really _au fait_ with the ladies, Adrien -- I don’t know what to tell you. I guess you should just talk to her about it?”

Adrien didn’t know how he got through the school day. All he wanted to do was get home to his computer, and craft a brilliant message to send to Ladybug via the Ladyblog; something that wouldn’t scare her off, something that would persuade her to meet up with him again. He’d find out what had made her run away, he’d explain that he loved her, he’d -- he’d --

He’d probably scare her off again.

He traipsed glumly down the school steps in the afternoon, and slumped into the car. The gorilla started to drive him the short way home; but the road was blocked ahead.

A flash mob had taken over the intersection. They were doing some extraordinarily terrible dancing but they all looked really happy. Adrien looked after them wistfully while the gorilla turned the car slowly around. He tried to take a different route but the next street was full of people having what looked like some sort of enormous food fight.

“Is there an arts festival on or something?” Adrien asked.

The gorilla, of course, didn’t reply.

When they finally got home, it was to find Nathalie in the middle of power quitting, apparently over Adrien being home late. “I am supposed to be your assistant, not your son’s jailor! I didn’t go to university to empower you to be a crappy father!” She was yelling.

But his father was already walking away.

“Someone else can put up with your psychotic behaviour from now on, GABE!” She yelled at his back. She saw Adrien then. “Good luck, kid,” she said, and stormed off as fast as her immaculate heels and heavy box of personal items would allow.

“What is going _on_ ,” Adrien muttered to himself, going up to his room and staring out the window.

And then he saw it; Ladybug was high up on a monument, looking out for trouble. She clearly thought something was off as well.

This was his chance -- he’d join her and they’d save the day and then this time, he wouldn’t let her run away. He’d start with a joke. No, he’d … he’d ask her. He’d just ask her.

_What would he ask her????_

“Well, are you going to go talk to her or just stare at her all night?” Plagg popped out of his pocket to demand. Obnoxiously. Adrien rolled his eyes at him.

“Plagg, claws out!”

He vaulted out of his window, and approached her from the side. Not as aggressive as the front, not as creepy as the back. Conciliatory, he thought. Placating.

He had some vague idea that wild cats approached low, with their ears flat, in a situation like this, and showed the other cat their throat.

She didn’t quite look at him, but said, her eyes on the city, “It doesn’t look like any akuma I’ve seen. Nobody’s actually doing anything particularly evil or wrong. They’re just… not quite acting like themselves.”

He took this as a green light to sit next to her. “It’s almost like there’s something in the drinking water,” he said. She nodded.

“Yes, everyone’s doing … the thing they’d really rather be doing; or were avoiding doing; or thought might be more interesting than what they should be doing. Sometimes I think it’s the thing they’re trying not to do; the thing they should say “no” to but they say “yes”. Like kissing their partner.”

He looked into her face at this but she was still determinedly looking everywhere but at him, so instead of launching into any of the things he’d thought about saying, he saw a glimmer of a different plan, and said, “I was hoping we could talk about that. But we might be a little bit visible up here.”

She seemed to be bracing herself but then she nodded and launched downwards. She darted down a lane like she’d been thinking about this spot all day.

It was all bumpy old cobblestone; the entrance to a run-down old block of formerly grand apartments, now about to be renovated and thoroughly deserted. If it hadn’t been covered in tags and graffiti and safety warnings, it might have been quite charming.

Cat Noir barely saw it, apart from deciding it seemed a safe, private enough place for this conversation.

He changed back into Adrien.

She didn’t run. She did, however, cover her eyes and turn her back, crying “Cat, _no_!”

She heard him say something that sounded like “clag, go eat your cheese,” as Adrien tossed a boxed camembert as far down the alleyway as he could.

“Rude!” she heard a little voice say. _His kwami_ , she thought.

Then there were hands on her hands, over her face.

“Please,” he said. “Please see me.”

She knew she shouldn’t, but there was something about his voice. It was gentler now, less cocky. In fact, there was nothing cocky about it at all. It was pleading.

And familiar.

She looked at him.

And fell over.

He helped her up. All she could do was stare.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m Adrien -”

“Yes, I know who you are,” she said, inching away, preparing for flight.

“Please don’t run away again,” he said. He looked so sad.

And so Ladybug did the bravest thing she’d ever done. She un-heroed as well.

Marinette and Tikki shared a split second’s look -- her friend seemed to be making sure Marinette was ok -- and then Tikki zoomed away to join the other kwami and leave the teenagers alone.

Adrien stared at her for a moment, and then threw his arms around her in a relieved sort of way.

“Oh thank god,” he said into her hair. “You aren’t married.”

“…what?” she said, trying to untangle herself and tripping over his foot.

“I was trying to figure out why you ran away the other night,” he explained, helping her get her balance again. “I was worried I’d accidentally asked a married woman to kiss me and upset her.”

Marinette’s eyes narrowed.

“The idea that Ladybug might just _not want_ Cat Noir was so astonishing to you?”

“Except -- the way you kissed me! You did want me!”

“Yes, but I didn’t want to! I -- we -” Marinette started stuttering and stammering at this point so she took a deep breath and just put her hands over her eyes again so she couldn’t see him. She had to say this. She _had_ to. “Ladybug never wanted to give in to Cat Noir’s goofing around because Marinette has a huge crush on someone else. On Adrien, she has a crush on _Adrien_.”

Adrien stared at her hands for several long seconds, taking it all in. Not only was Ladybug _not_ married, or too old for him, or anything else that might get in the way of them living happily ever after -- Ladybug was Marinette. Beautiful, sweet, wacky Marinette. And she had a huge crush on him.

She seemed angry at him. But his brain couldn’t seem to parse that bit. It was like he had a big balloon of happiness in his chest. He tried to put his arms around her again but she fended him off with an outstretched arm. She didn’t look like she could speak again yet so he took a deep breath to try and calm down and said, gently, “I’m sorry about the other night. It was so strange -- I didn’t mean to ask Ladybug to kiss me at all. All I wanted to do was tell you how I felt, make sure you understood I wasn’t just goofing around, that you were the only woman I could think about -- but something else came out of my mouth.”

“You really expect me to believe that Cat Noir cares _so much_ about Ladybug?”

“I love her -- you, I love you -”

“No you don’t. Ladybug is a persona, not a full flesh and blood human being. You are clearly just infatuated with some idea of this mysterious woman -- one who wears a skin-tight suit and is always out of your reach and never asks anything of you, emotionally, just waltzes in and saves the day -”

She was yelling by now, but Adrien was starting to get upset too.

“That is _not_ what I love about Ladybug. How can you even think that about me? You know me. I fell in love with you when we fought our first villain together. You were afraid and hesitant but then suddenly you were -- committed and resourceful and creative and -- and funny and clever -- and kind and understanding -”

Marinette had been staring at him with her mouth open. Then she piped up angrily, “I am all of those things when I am Marinette too, and you’ve never looked twice at me when I’m not in a red suit!”

“As if I would ever think I stood a chance with Marinette! Half the grade’s in love with her! She’s sweet and beautiful and talented and friends with everyone. It’s why Chloe’s so jealous of her. And she has a family that love her -- there’s nothing I can give Marinette. But Ladybug, I help. We’re on the same footing, we work together. I need her and she needs me. I’ve been trying to tell her -- _you_ , I’ve been trying to tell _you_ how I feel for so long -”

“What, with your constant sexual harassment? You’re just a big flirt!”

“Only with you!”

“Rubbish! You flirted like crazy with Marinette when you wanted her to be the bait so you could catch the Evillustrator.”

Adrien looked completely floored. “I did _not_!” He finally spluttered.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him and then puffed up her chest and started flexing her biceps. “That date of yours is bad news, little lady,” she said in a scathing imitation of Cat Noir’s voice when he was showing off. “But you’ll be safe with me, I’m a superhero. Care to be my Ladybug for the night?”

She put her arm around his waist and went on, in a deeper voice. “I saved you. You should think of a way to thank me.”

“Oh my god,” he said, stepping away from her and wrapping his arms around his head as though he was both trying to stop his brain from exploding but also trying to protect it from her derision. “I’m such an idiot. I liked Marinette and I didn’t even know it.”

“What kind of creep likes one girl when he’s already supposed to be in love with another one?” She yelled.

“They’re both the _one GIRL_!” Adrien yelled back. “Stop trying to confuse me! I clearly love _you_ no matter who you are!”

“And what? You show it by being patronising and dropping a million pick-up lines?”

He opened his mouth to yell something about how it wasn’t his fault he had no idea about girls, but then he got dust or something in his eye. He blinked it away and decided he was done with arguing. He moved towards her, and she obligingly stepped back and ran against the wall. He put his hand up against it near her head. He leaned into her, leaving mere inches between their faces.

Somehow he had done it without being threatening or aggressive. It was -- she didn’t know what it was but her heart was racing now. His green eyes were all she could see.

God, those _eyes_.

When he spoke, it was more like a purr, his voice soft and silky.

“What would you have _liked_ me to have said?”

Marinette managed to make a strangled sort of noise. Waiting to make sure she wasn’t going to add anything else, Adrien went on, even quieter, “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t think that I’m in love with you. I’ve taken arrows and blows and been vanished out of time to protect you. I would walk through fire for you. My lady.”

And, since Marinette had always liked it when Cat Noir had called her that, she did the only sensible thing left then and kissed him.

Mmm.

Fireworks.

They had to stop eventually. They looked at each other and started to laugh gently at themselves.

“What were we arguing about again?” Marinette asked.

“Something ridiculous!” Plagg yelled at them from the far end of the alleyway. “Can we get out of this horrible alleyway and go back to our house now, Adrien, where there’s more cheese?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Adrien said, thinking about how much he wanted to show Marinette his room, with his computer games and the books she’d like and his soft couch and -- and -- his horrible father who would want to know who this girl was and who would probably be really rude to her and maybe throw her out. “No,” he said, his face falling. “I’m sorry. My father -”

“We could go to my house,” she said, blushing. “But -- but won’t the forbidding Gabriel Agreste notice his princeling is gone?”

“No.” Adrien said definitively.


	4. Enter Sandman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hawkmoth is impatient.

Hawkmoth was becoming very, very impatient. His latest akuma victim was proving much harder to influence than his previous disciples. Hawkmoth had thought that he had known what the Sandman had wanted, but it appeared to all be a lot more complicated than he had imagined.

“Sandman!” he snarled. “Get on with it! I can’t wait forever while you do nothing but dance around on rooftops! Get me those miraculouses!”

“Now, now, Hawkmoth,” Sandman said, looking wounded and pausing in his soft shoe shuffle. “A bargain is a bargain. I promised you I would help you get your baubles, and I will.”

“Well, hurry up about it, or I will take away your powers!”

“You want to take away my sand? Well, if that’s what will make you _happy_ ,” Sandman said, kneeling and holding up his walking stick, with its container of sand at the top, like a knight holding up his sword to his master. “However, rushing these things hasn’t achieved much for you thus far in your campaign, has it?”

Hawkmoth ground his teeth in frustration, then said, his jaw clenched, “Fine. How long?”

“Oh, just a few more days, sir,” the Sandman said, and performed a complicated dance move that catapulted him back to his feet again. “With your permission?”

“Just do not fail me,” Hawkmoth said, and severed the connection.


	5. Exit Sandman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's only half a chapter, really, but I felt bad. The fandom's ramping back up with the new season starting and here I am, neglecting this poor fic...

Adrien and Marinette had been making out for quite a while, on her rooftop. To be clear, they hadn't been making out the _whole_ time. They'd talked, too, and Marinette's mother had brought up some snacks, and then so had her father, and they had eaten everything. Occasionally they'd fed it to each other.

Marinette's father was being quite fun, actually. He had made all sorts of experimental things in the bakery kitchen; to the point that he'd failed to get the next day's breads and pastries started until Marinette's mother had stood over him and made him. He'd sung opera while doing it, the sound travelling up to the teenagers canoodling on top of the building.

Then… there had been a man there. He had sort of leapt gracefully down from the neighbour's roof in a foof of glitter, and next thing they knew, Adrien was on his face with his arm locked up behind him. Marinette screamed.

"Please don't worry. I'm doing him a favour. This is such a burden," the man said, before slipping Adrien's miraculous ring off his finger.

"No!" Adrien and Marinette both yelled, but then the man pushed on Adrien's arm a certain way and Adrien hissed in pain.

"Now," he added. "Ladybug. You don't want your young man here to be hurt, do you? Without his ring, he doesn't have nine lives any more. Much more breakable," he said, with another push. Adrien actually yelled this time.

"Stop, stop! Here, you can have them!" Marinette cried, and then all of a sudden it had happened.

One of Hawmoth's villains had the miraculouses.

"Please, trust me. You don't need these things. You'll be much safer and happier without them. You stay here. I have a date with Hawkmoth."

And suddenly, the man was gone, in another foof of glitter. Marinette rushed to Adrien to make sure he was ok, rubbing at her eyes; some had clearly made their way in there, like some insult to injury.

She started to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody panic...


End file.
